Age of Champions

CACL is an educational license holder of the award-winning documentary, "Age of Champions," and regularly hosts events with university partners. These events are aimed at educating the university community as well as the public on what it means to actively age.

2018 Age of Champions Event

Age of Champions is an annual FREE health fair hosted by the Center on Aging and Community Living that endeavors to raise awareness of and promote healthy aging from a holistic perspective. This is an interactive event with assessments, raffles, demonstrations, and movement exercises. There are several information and resource tables from local and state organizations at the health fair for people to visit. See an overview in the video below.

Robert Kertzer

Robert Kertzer, PhD, originally from Brooklyn, came to Durham in 1965 as a faculty member in the kinesiology department, and in 1976 developed one of the first exercise science programs in the country for undergraduates at UNH. Dr. Kertzer is a man who has created new paths to health and wellness for all; he campaigned for the creation of the Hamel Student Recreation Center at the Whittemore Center and developed the first cardiac rehabilitation program in New Hampshire at UNH in 1978. He spent much of his career researching the negative side effects of bed rest and the positive effects of exercise, and the cardiac rehabilitation program put this knowledge to practice. Dr. Kertzer was one of the first to think of exercise as medicine: the right prescription for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of many of today’s ailments and disease. Dr. Kertzer was not only an accomplished researcher and clinician, but also a well-recognized educator, receiving the Distinguished University Faculty Award in 1982, the Teaching Excellence Award in 1995 and the Jean Brierly Award for Teaching Excellence in 1997. Even in retirement, he can be found around the halls of New Hampshire Hall and in the Robert Kertzer Exercise Physiology Laboratory teaching students and young faculty the history and physiology that has led to the understanding of how exercise can improve the function of our systems and improve our quality of life.

Joyce Sheffield

Now nearly 90 years of age, Joyce Sheffield grew up in the smallest town in New York, with a population of 38 (according to the 2010 census).

In July of 1949, Joyce married her husband, Merle, who was a graduate of West Point. Her two children, Michael and Christine, were born in Germany. Merle received a Master’s in Physics and spent 23½ years in the military running the ROTC program at the University of Rhode Island, spending time at Ft. Benning in Georgia, Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas and then back to West Point teaching physics. During this time, Joyce was building her career as a volunteer. She worked in a number of libraries, volunteered in her children’s schools, as a “Pink lady” in hospitals, and worked feeding the hungry. This is so representative of Joyce’s life and philosophy – when needed, she responds.

After retiring from the military, Joyce and Merle decided to embark on a lifelong dream – they joined the Peace Corps and went to Jamaica. The Peace Corps offered Joyce a position as an assistant librarian at the college where Merle taught.

Joyce is a member of the Durham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. They are a small congregation of about 50-55 adults, with no permanent minister, so the congregation take turns doing the various jobs. Joyce has been president three times, has also served as secretary, membership chair, vice president, and socials chair. Beyond that, she served on the NH Board of Nursing (as one of two citizen members) for three years, for the Town of Durham on the Supervisors of the Checklist for three years, as well as serving on the Recycling Commission.

Joyce has been a member of the Active Retirement Association (ARA) for 30 years. During that time she has served on numerous committees and has held the office of vice president, hospitality director, memorial fund director and for eight years was the membership director. Today, Joyce coordinates the volunteer committee responsible for putting together all the mailings sent out by the ARA. She continues to attend many programs and activities as an active and engaged member.

Joyce was an avid skier and a prolific knitter. She loves to read and listen to music and never says no if invited to join in with friends to attend a community supper. Her children both settled in the Lakes Region of NH and she has 4 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren who enrich her life.

In short, Joyce Sheffield is a person of great energy, vitality and accomplishment. She is both an aspirational and inspirational individual and a valued role model to us all.

AARP New Hampshire: AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps people turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities, strengthens communities and fights for the issues that matter most to families such as healthcare, employment security and retirement planning. The AARP New Hampshire booth will provided information on caregiving, fraud prevention, generic AARP information, as well as state-specific information on AARP New Hampshire.

Expanding Your World Since 1982, the Active Retirement Association has provided educational and cultural programming in the Seacoast area and beyond. The association is an outreach function of the University of New Hampshire and is financed entirely by the membership and managed through an elected board of directors. The ARA aims to enhance the quality of life for individuals who wish to keep intellectually alert, broaden their interests, explore new fields of knowledge, and make new friends. Members are encouraged to use their talents and experiences as program leaders, panelists, organizers, officers and committee members.

Offering an informational booth about the applied research, evaluation and technical assistance offered to help improve knowledge, policies and practices to guide New Hampshire residents and policy makers in preparing for the aging population.

Teaching art to people with dementia or Alzheimer's disease. As Certified Dementia Practitioner, Opening Minds Through Art (OMA) facilitator for people with dementia, art teacher and international artist, I am trained to give special art class program to people with dementia and Alzheimer's disease and also give professional training to volunteers to work with.

Recreation Exercise Club: Great Bay Masters Swimming is a US Masters Swimming club with workouts at UNH, Dover and Portsmouth Pools. The team offers coached swimming workouts, social events and opportunities for competition. With an age range from 18 to 84 and ability levels from beginner swimmers to retired college athletes, we pride ourselves on having space for everyone who wishes to participate!

Founded in 1987, The NH Senior Games, Inc. is a not-for-profit (501 C-3) all-volunteer sports and fitness organization governed by a board of directors. The Granite State Senior Games' (GSSG's) sporting events are now known as the New Hampshire Senior Games (NHSG). We are New Hampshire's premier multi-sport event for the 50+ population. NHSG is the only New Hampshire organization in the state to be sanctioned by the National Senior Games Association (NSGA) to qualify senior athletes for participation in the National Senior Games held every two years.

NDHHS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving deaf/hard-of-hearing people throughout the state of New Hampshire. We provide many different programs and services to the deaf/hard-of-hearing community. For example, the NH Telecommunications Equipment Assistance Program (NH-TEAP) can provide specialized telephone equipment at little or no cost to residents with any kind of disability.

We provide free transportation to medical related appointments to those residents that are 55+ or disabled living in Barrington, Durham, Lee, Madbury, Newfields, Nottingham, Northwood, Newmarket and Strafford. Our volunteers are vetted and use their own cars

We are in the planning phase of making "aging in place" a real option in some of our New Hampshire Seacoast communities. Our proposed village will provide social connections and meaningful support (from members, vetted volunteers and professionals), while leveraging our consumer power to make change.

A Walk in Their Shoes & Cognitive Assessments: A brief dementia simulation to help people understand how a person with dementia perceives the world around them and how participants can better communicate with them. Cognitive assessments will help participants to see how the challenges they faced in the simulation directly correlate to certain areas of the brain and function.

We provide individual and group music therapy and art therapy services to children and adults at our center and out in the community. We will primarily be displaying our services for older adults and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Ag-friendly communities across Northern New England: We will be offering information related to our efforts to promote initiatives that foster aging in place in communities across New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. We will share the learning opportunities we have available, including twice monthly webinars, a robust online resource hub, and regional in-person gatherings.

Falls prevention education to include screenings, home modifications and exercise suggestions

CarFit: Adjustments and ideas to maximize safety and comfort while driving, with in-car safety screenings to educate senior drives on best practices for adjusting their car to increase safety and comfort.

Information Communication Technology Training: Providing home-based, one-on-one training on information communication technology with through students in the occupational therapy program.